


Consume Heartbeat

by LI0NH34RT



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Black Friday, M/M, Madness, Thiam, disclaimer: I have never participated in a black Friday so this is purely media influenced, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 15:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17144684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LI0NH34RT/pseuds/LI0NH34RT
Summary: Liam and Theo meet during a Black Friday sale.Prompt for the Thiam Secret Santa 2018.





	Consume Heartbeat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ithinkwehaveanemergency](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ithinkwehaveanemergency/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, Adri! 🌲🌟💙🎉

_The four am chill settles into Liam’s bones. He is on a mission, running a well-crafted strategy through his mind again and again. As he visualizes the path he'll take into battle, the action draws near. Chuffing warm breath into his hands, he tries to stay loose. It's a last-ditch effort to stave off a milieu of emotional and physical states: excitement, fear, adrenaline, fatigue. Now is the time for singular focus._   
  
_It's Black Friday._   
  
_The line he has been queuing in for the last 45 minutes is starting to morph from orderly to insanity as everyone makes a break for the just-opened store doors. Whether he'll be one of the first few to snag a door prize remains to be seen. It's every shopper for himself._   
_This is war. And Liam has a plan._

  
**Theo never liked shopping. Too many people, too much stress. Why would you go out into the cold when you could order everything with just a mouse click without even leaving your bed? Now he somehow still finds himself in his car, waiting out the first wave of crazy shoppers while building up the courage to actually go inside the mall.**

  
_**Damned be his mother and her sense for perfectionism!** _

  
**No, that wasn’t fair. This was not his mum’s fault. She merely pointed out that she wanted to hold a second Thanksgiving dinner with all the leftovers. And then she discovered that there were too few mashed potatoes. And cranberry sauce. Oh, and if he is going he might as well bring another pumpkin and that new TV she saw in the leaflets two days ago!**   
**So the whole situation was totally his own fault for being easily manipulated by the promise of pumpkin pie and a higher frame rate for Netflix. And the prospect of getting out of the house that was full of family members he didn’t knew or want to know.**

  
**The whole situation seems like a pretty sweet deal, if there isn’t the small inconvenience of today being Black Friday, the most busy shopping day of the year where even the most civil people mutate into crazy reckless vultures.**

  
**A short vibration signals an incoming text. It’s Tara with the simple order to bring red bell pepper for the guacamole. Of course she wants guacamole.**  
 **A glance at the clock tells Theo that it’s already 9am and he should probably get started if he wants to get home before the rush to the cars starts. With a sigh he grabs his phone, wallet and keys and climbs out of the car. _And here I go, in my certain doom._**  
  
   
 _The blood rushes through Liam’s veins as he hurries down another aisle, on his face a wide grin. To his right two men are fighting over what seems to be the last mini fridge and Liam hurries past just as the smaller of the two brawlers raises his fists. The video games on the shelves start falling in the background._

  
_Black Friday could be so much fun, if only humans would understand that they won't die without that shiny new plasma TV for a couple of less hundred dollars._

  
_Liam rounds the next corner on his way to said TVs. It will be his last stop, he decides as the adrenaline slowly drains out of his body and takes all his energy with it. This would be much less stressful if Mason hadn’t decided to be a dick and rather sleep in with Corey instead of supporting his best friend on his quest to find the best deals for a completely new electronic endowment of their shared apartment. But Liam is not one to give up at the slightest inconvenience and so he dives head first into the mass of people surrounding the entertainment department._

  
   
 **Theo takes one look at the line of people waiting to pay for their stuff in the electronic market and decides to go to the grocery store first. The ten registers are by far not enough to contain the waiting time to a manageable amount but weirdly people seem to be okay with that. Well, most people.**

  
**Just as Theo walks by a man tries to cut the line and the other shoppers are immediately on guard, evil glances are thrown, murmuring gets louder and louder until one woman, just a little older than Theo himself yells: “Hey mister! Get back in line, it’s first come first serve!”**   
  
**Theo doesn’t stay to see what the man responds but it can’t be pretty because a turmoil breaks loose behind him. _Yep. Definitely get the food first. And a coffee._**

  
   
 _Sometimes Liam has pretty good ideas. Going to the mall on Black Friday, alone, to buy electronics wasn’t one of those ideas._  
 _When he gets to the registers he regrets drinking all that red bull before starting his shopping spree._

  
_“This is gonna take a while...” he mumbles as he puts down the cartons containing their new TV and surround system on the ground. Despite everything he digs out another can of the energy drink to help survive the next few hours in this line._   
  
_One hour later Liam’s bladder is so full he feels like a wrong movement would lead to the probably most embarrassing moment in his life. Even worse than the time Mason ate his last brownie and Liam had to eat all the cookies as revenge, just to feel miserable for the rest of the night._

  
_In front of him are so many people with so many items. For a brief moment Liam considers to just walk away, convinced no sound system, even if it is as great as the one he is currently sitting on, is worth this torture, but then he thinks of Mason and Corey and how smug he will feel when he can play alone for the first few days, really making use of that ‘I bought it, so it’s mine’ rule. It’s not really a rule because half of the money in his wallet is Mason's, but this isn’t about logic._

  
   
“Hey, are you alright man?”

  
The voice comes from behind Liam and just in this moment he realizes his cowering pose in which he sits on his packages.    
“Yes I am totally fine, sorry for-“ and that’s the moment Liam manages to turn around fully to face his dialog partner. Behind him stands a guy his age, a bag with what seems to be food over his shoulder and the same big flat screen carton under his arm that Liam has selected. He is ridiculously hot. The guy, not the TV.

Even wearing a simple white shirt and sweatpants, his dark hair tousled as if he just rolled out of bed.   
   
“Nice TV!” he blurts out instead of finishing his previous sentence. The guy's lips twitch with an amused smile and Damn! those eyes look beautiful when they sparkle. Liam can’t even distinguish the colours in them, one moment they look almost as blue as his, in the next they are green-grey on the verge of changing over to a brownish earthy tone.   
“I am Liam.”   
Another almost smile hits him with the force of a blow in the face.   
“Hi Liam, nice to meet you and your TV. Are you okay? You kinda look in pain...”   
Liam can already feel himself blush, _great, there is really no way to let me look good in this situation right?_

  
“Yeah no, I just... I just really have to use the toilet but I can’t leave the line or I will lose this stuff and then my roommate will kill me. But apart from the feeling that I’m gonna explode every minute I am totally fine, yep.”   
_Dig your grave deeper, why don’t you?_

  
  
But the handsome guy only shrugs “I can watch your stuff if you want. I mean, we already have the same TV, so you know I won’t steal it.”   
“But not the same sound system!” Liam blurts out, “I... mean, I don’t even know your name”, he retails as he realizes that he basically just called this hot dude a thief when all he did was being nice, but he already stands upright at this point and that position doesn’t really leave him a choice.   
“It’s Theo and I promise I don't want your sound system. Now go before you hurt yourself.”   
Liam sends him a thankful smile and then he bolts towards the nearest restroom in a speed he wishes to posses when playing lacrosse.

  
   
~♤~

  
   
“Sorry, sorry... can I please... I am sorry ma'am...” Liam carefully makes his way through the line to get back to Theo and their stuff. He is almost there, already seeing Theo’s dark hair in the crowd as he is stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

  
“Hey!” an angry voice behind him says, “no line cutting!”

  
“I am not!”, Liam protests, “I was this far up but I needed to go to the toilet. My boyfriend and our stuff are still there.” And then, out of spite he adds: “Here, watch: THEO! Hey, Theo!”   
As expected Theo hears him, he turns and waves, a smile on his face that turns to a confused scowl when he sees the man touching Liam. But as if the stranger heard Theo’s surely not very friendly thoughts he lest go of Liam’s shoulder.

  
“Sorry man, my bad. I guess I am just grumpy because I don’t have a stand in.”   
Liam smiles. “Don’t worry about it, we are all a little bit on the edge today. But if you need the restroom or want to go get a coffee, I can watch your stuff?”

  
   
Theo shakes his head when Liam joins him half an hour later. “You are too nice for this world, you know that, right?”   
“Well, actually I am just following your example, you offered the same to me even though we only met today, remember?”   
“But you- “ Theo interrupts himself, “...that was different.”   
Liam only smiles at him, “No it wasn't.”   
And Theo would love to argue, but if Liam smiles like that, blue eyes glittering with amusement, his cheeks slightly dimpled, how can anyone expect him to think of logic arguments?   
“You know, sometimes I am really glad not to be a woman. You should have seen the lines in front of their toilets”, Liam shakes his head and Theo can’t help but take that cue “Only sometimes?”    
The blonde boy blushes immediately and it’s such a good look on him that Theo can barely avert his eyes.

  
   
“So, who sent you to buy groceries? On Black Friday?”   
Theo sighs, “So obvious that I am not here for fun, huh? It’s my mom, she is crazy and over the top and one Thanksgiving dinner is not enough in our family. Apparently there wasn’t any mashed potatoes left and who can have a leftover dinner without mashed potatoes?”

  
Liam laughs and his whole face lights up. Theo launches in an in-depth explanation of his family and all their quirks just to have the chance of watching Liam without it being weird.   
The other guy is a little shorter than himself and quite stocky, but the way he carries himself makes his presence known when he walks into a room. Every inch of him radiates emotion and passion for whatever he is talking about.

  
_Wait a second. Liam is talking? When did that happen?_   
Theo blinks to clear his thoughts and just in that moment Liam falls quiet as well.   
“You haven’t heard a word of what I just said, right?”, he asks, a half smile on his lips.   
Theo, not wanting to see this radiant boy upset, hurries to interject.   
“I am sorry! I promise I wasn’t bored, it’s just... you.. you are so beautiful.”   
_Fuck, that was NOT planned._  
  
Liam’s eyes have become big with what resembles surprise, but that can’t be how can he not know about the effect he has on other people?

  
A furious red spreads over his cheeks down his neck and makes Theo wonder just how far that blush reaches. _Bad thoughts! Not the time._

  
Liam’s right hand shoots up to his neck, rubbing it “Well, so are you, if you haven’t noticed!”   
People have called Theo handsome or pretty, even told him he looked straight out of a fashion magazine, but never once had he been described as beautiful.

  
   
His smile gets impossible wide as he steps closer to Liam. “So despite the fact that we have literally known each other for maybe two hours - since we have established that we have so many things in common... what would you do if I said I wanted to kiss you?”   
“Well”, Liam takes a step forward too, his chest nearly touching Theo's, “I guess, I would do this.”   
And then his hands are on Theo’s shoulders and his lips are laying on Theo’s. It’s a soft kiss, careful and prepared to break apart at the slightest sign of resistance.  

  
There is none. Theo reaches around Liam’s head, pulling the other boy in, closer always closer and everything around them blurs away, it’s just them, Liam and Theo. Liam and his smile against Theo’s lips, Theo and his warm and steady body under Liam’s curious hands, Liam-   
“Hey!” a loud voice sounds. “Hey lovebirds! I am very happy for you, really, but if you go any further I am not sure you will get that stuff of yours paid for today.”   
   
The line had progressed quite a bit while they had been occupied and the blush on Liam's face seems to be imprinted permanently as they pick up the packages and move closer to the registers under the whispers and chuckles of the other shoppers.   
But when Liam slides his hand into Theo's, throwing him a look under long lashes, he can’t bring himself to care.   
 

  
~♤~

  
   
“So...” Liam says.   
“So...” Theo echoes, his eyes not leaving Liam’s for a second.

  
They stand next to Theo’s car, both of them managed to get themselves and their items out of the mall in one piece, but somehow even the three hours waiting in line they spend together wasn't enough to end their conversation. After the kiss neither of them was able to look the other in the eye but their exchange hadn’t stopped once and by the time they reached the registers all awkwardness was gone once more.

  
Liam feverishly searches for a possibility to get at least Theo’s number and he just found enough courage to open his mouth and bluntly ask when Theo beats him to it.

  
“Hey, do you have to be anywhere today?” the question is tossed out rapidly, Theo nearly stumbles over his words and he looks so nervous, that Liam can’t help but smile. Mason can wait a few hours longer for the new TV.

  
   
~♤~

  
   
“So, how did you two meet again?” That aunt Marie sure is nosey, but when Theo grabs his hand and squeezes it, Liam keeps that thought to himself.

  
“We only met today, actually. But surviving the Madness that is Black Friday together is worth at least two month, don’t you think Liam?”  
Liam thinks that it’s at least three month but in the end that doesn’t really matter and so he only smiles and kisses Theo again. Because that is something he can’t do too many times no matter the time they are together.   
   
   
   
   
 


End file.
